Renata Giraldi Reporter Agência Brasil
Brasília – Special attention is being paid to the culinary arts as Brazil prepares for the visit by the president of the United States, his family, plus some one thousand aides, assistants, business leaders and security personnel.

The menu for lunch on Saturday, March 19, in Brasilia at Itamaraty (the Foreign Ministry Palace) includes a special cut of beef (known as “picanha”), farofa (made from cassava flour or meal) and a famous dish from the Brazilian backlands (“sertão”), “baião de dois,” made with rice, beans, pork sausage, and cheese curds. The Obamas will be able to try some Brazilian fruit: manga, passion fruit (“maracuja”), carambola (also known as starfruit) and papaya, among many others. There will also be Brazilian wine from southern Brazil (state of Rio Grande do Sul). For vegetarians there will be baked vegetables. A number of different tropical juices will be served. The table will be decorated with Brazilian flowers. Around 150 people will have lunch at Itamaraty with Dilma and Obama.

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English
Link - Obama e a família vão experimentar pratos e doces tipicamente brasileiros